Explosive operated valve



Aug, 6', 1946.,

I. LUBEQCK ET AL 9 9 EXPLOSIVE OPERATED VALVE Filed Nov. 6, 1942 2Sheets-Sheet l All. 6, 1946. LUBBOCK ET AL Zfl-AQ EXPLOSIVEOPERATEDVALVE Filed NOV. 6, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 6, 1946EXPLOSIV E OPERATED VALVE Isaac Lubbock, Geofirey J oseph Gollin, AllanLindsay, and Harold James Poole, London, England; said Lubbock, Gollin,and Lindsay assignors to The Asiatic Petroleum London, England Company,Limited,

Application November 6, 1942, Serial No. 464,832 In Great BritainNovember 7, 1941 7 Claims. 1 According to this invention, a valve whichwill open practically instantaneously is provided by employing anexplosive charge to create pressure above a piston linked with orforming part of a valve member preferably of the poppet type. The valveis adapted to remain open after it has moved to the open position byproviding an automatic retaining device.

Various features of the invention embodied in carrying it into practicewill be hereinafter described and claimed. I

The invention is illustrated by way of examples in theaccompanying'drawings, of which Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of thevalve in the closed position; Figure 2 is a detail in the same viewshowing the valve in the open position; and Figure 3 shows a modifiedform of device for automatically retaining the valve in the openposition.

Referring to the drawings, I represents the explosive charge, which isof the solid type and which is operated electrically by a usual form ofresistance bridge, but it will be understood that it might also beoperated through a percussion or friction cap. The'explosive charge isshown as being introduced as a cartridge fitted into the head of thevalve body above the movable valve member which comprises a stem 2carrying a piston 3 at the top end and a poppet 4 toward its lower end.The piston slides in the valve body 5 which is suitably machined toprovide a bearing for the piston and a seating for the poppet. It willbe understood that the principle of construction is unaltered if thevalve is horizontal, or inclined, or operated upwards.

The port 6 is provided at the bottom for the inlet of fluid whilst atransverse port 1 is provided for the outlet of fluid when the valve isopened. It will be seen from Figure 2 that these ports are incommunication with each other when the valve is open.

The means for retaining the movable valve member in the openpositionafter the explosive charge has been fired and has driven down the pistoncomprises, as shown in Figure 1, a locking device operated by pressuretransmitted by solid material subjected to a blow from a hammer carriedby the valve member. This hammer, which is indicated by the referencenumeral l5, strikes a body of soft metal l3 contained in the steelcylindrical anvil M. The cylindrical wall of the anvil I4 is piercedwith holes in each of which is free to slide a bolt or snug 16 which, asshown in Figure 1, is normally contained in the hole and does notproject laterally from the outer wall of the anvil. 1,

A skirt I! attached to the valve stem, is adapted to move over the outerwall of the anvil and is formed with a recessed portion l8 which, asshown in Figure 2, is opposite to the bolts or snugs when the valve isopened and the soft metal in the anvil has been struck by the hammer.

The pressure engendered in the soft metal when it is so struck, istransmitted to the bolts or snugs, causing them to emerge from theirholes in the outer wall of the anvil and to enter into the recessedportion of the the'valve stem. I r I It will be seen that the recessedportion in the skirt is provided to form on the end of the skirt aflange l9 which is a reasonably close'flt over the outer wall of theanvil, the skirt proper being of such internal diameter as to allow thebolt or snug to be moved an appreciable distance beyond the Wall of theanvil and to lie partly within the wall of the anvil and partly outsidewhen caused to emerge by the pressure transmitted from the soft metal.

skirt carried by v The valve is particularly suitable for use inconnection with the passage of gas under very high pressure, for examplefor releasing high pressure gas from a storage cylinder for the purposeof impelling combustion ingredients to nozzles in a combustion chamber.An example of this is in'connection with jet propulsion apparatus whereinert gas at high pressure may be used to drive liquid fuel and liquidoxidant to a burning nozzle in the combustion chamber.

When the valve is employed with fluid at very high pressure it isimportant that no leakage should pass the valve seat whilst the valve isnominally considered closed. Accordingly there is shown in the drawingsa shearing plate or disc [2 which is made for example of aluminium andwhich is sheared by the valve member on its opening movement. In Figure2 this disc is shown to have been sheared.

In operation, when the explosive charge has been fired the piston on thevalve stem is driven downwardly and uncovers a pressure relief vent H.The shearing disc is ruptured, and the valve stem moves at a highvelocity until its hammer enters the soft metal in the anvil. By thistime the flange on the skirt has moved beyond the holes in the outerwall of the anvil in which the bolts or snugs are situated, so that whenthe hammer has entered the soft metal in the anvil and has engendered ahigh pressure therein, the

, truded steel bolts or snugs which prevents further movement of thevalve towards the closed position.

In the original filling of the anvil with soft metal a sleeve may beprovided to slide over the outside of the anvil so that the ends of thebolts or snugs can be held flush with the outside of the anvil casinwhilst it is being filled with molten soft metal. The inner ends of thebolts or snugs may be curved or otherwise shaped to enable the softmetal, when set, to gain a positive hold on the bolts or snugs. When themetal has cooled the snugs are held in this position by the adhesion ofthe soft metal, and one can then either dispose of the sleeve or arrangefor it to be pushed to a position beyond the bolt or snug holes by thedownward movement of the flanged skirt carried by the valve stem. Such asleeve is shown at 20 in Figure 1.

In the modified form of automatic valve retaining mean shown in Figure3, spring controlled snugs are provided which operate directly upon thevalve stem. Thusthe snug 8 urged by the spring l0 normally bears againstthe part 2| of the piston but when the valve has opened the snug comesopposite to the recessed portion 9 in the piston and aceordingly'mo vesinto that recess under the force of the spring. When the snug hasentered the recessed portion it is clear that the valve is preventedfrom returning to the closedposition.

What we claim is:

1. An explosive operated valve comprising detent means adapted whenoperated to engage a part of the valve, and a body of solid materialadapted when struck to flow and operate said detent means, and meansoperating when the valve opens to strike said body of solid material.

2. An explosive operated valve comprising detent means adapted whenoperated to engage a part of the valve, and a body of soft metal adaptedwhen struck to flow and operate said detent means, said valve carrying apart which will strike said body of metal when the valve opens.

3. An explosive operated valve comprising an anvil containing softmetal, a detent located in a transverse hole in said anvil communicatingwith the soft metal, a hammer carried by the valve which is adapted tostrike the soft metal when the valve opens, and a part carried by thevalve and adapted to present a recess opposite to the detent after thesoft metal has been struck.

4. An explosive operated valve as claimed inv claim 3, in which the saidpart carried by the valve is in the form of a skirt moving about theoutside of the anvil when the valve is opening.

5. An explosive operated valve as claimed in claim 3, in which the saidpart carried by the valve is in the form of a skirt provided with aflange which moves about the outside of the anvil to a position beyondthe detent when the valvehas opened, so that when the valve tends toclose the'detent has been extruded to a recess above the flange wherebythe valve is prevented from closing.

6. An explosive operated valve as claimed in claim 3, in which the saidpart carried by the valve is in the form of a skirt which moves aboutthe anvil when the valve is opening, a sleeve being fitted around theanvil opposite to the detent and being adapted to be moved away fromthat position by the skirt carried by the valve.

7. An explosive operated valve of the poppet type comprising a valvebody having a valve seat, a fluid inlet to'a space below the seat, and afluid outlet'communicating with a space above the seat, a valvecooperating with the seat, an operating piston for'the valve subjectedto the explosive force, a shearable sealingmember forming a seal betweenthe inlet and outlet passages and adapted to be ruptured when the valveismoved to open position by the explosive force, detent mean adapted toengage and hold the valve open, a deformable body adapted when deformedto operate said detent means, and means engaging and deforming said bodywhen the valve opens.

ISAAC LUBBOCK. GEOFFREY JOSEPH GOLLIN. ALLAN LINDSAY.

HAROLD. JAMES POOLE.

